The Dragon's Egg

Scripture: John 3:8, Revelation 12:9, Isaiah 14:12

How did evil originate? Where did sin come from? Did God create a devil? The Bible explains how Lucifer, a covering cherub in heaven, turned against God. There is a mystery to the devil's fall from heaven. But the Bible says a third of the angels of heaven were cast out of heaven. Satan was once the highest angel in heaven and created perfect until iniquity was found in him.

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Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #1: Alright, our first question is, does Bible prophecy address the United States of America?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Yes. This is one of those questions we’re going to answer by saying, “Keep coming,” because we have a night where it specifically deals with the United States in Bible Prophecy. It is--has a very prominent role. And that shouldn’t surprise you when you consider the incredible impact the US has on the world. How it has just rocketed from you know, a small colony to a world power in 200 years. It does have a role in last day prophecy.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #2: I learned of the love of Jesus through the book, “Satan Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth.” Actually, Hal Lindsey did make a public apology for his false material. I heard it with my own ears. I don’t expect that Hal Lindsey wants to say anymore about it—if he did, it would be an excellent opportunity to explain the difference between the real and the false. And this is from Jonathan.

Doug Batchelor (DB): And you know I--I chose to include that because first of all, if Hal Lindsey did make a verbal apology, then that’s great. I haven’t ever seen it in print, but we accept that. And I--I don’t question a person’s sincerity, or that God can use them. Keep in mind, did the disciples believe in Jesus—the apostles? Were they sincere? Were they wrong about their interpretation of prophecy for the first coming? Did that make them less Christians because they had the wrong interpretation? They suffered because of it. They were terribly discouraged when they should have said, “We know what’s happening, Jesus said this would happen, He’ll rise the third day,” but they--they were mixed up, and so they got very discouraged. That doesn’t mean they’re not Christians. So there’s a lot of dear people out there that their interpretation is off—I believe, but I don’t--I don’t question their Christianity.

Karen Batchelor (KB): Alright, and you were talking about the crucifixion, not His re—His birth, His first coming?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Well they misunderstood both. When they thought that they didn’t understand the crucifixion. Jesus said to the disciples on the way to Jerusalem, “I’m going to Jerusalem, I’ll be betrayed, I’ll be crucified, I’ll rise the third day” and the Bible says it. The rough translation is—it went on one ear and out the other. (Audience laughs) They just didn’t, it didn’t register.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #3: Alright. What Bible texts support that God’s people will go through the tribulation before the rapture?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Well, there’s a number of them. I think I jotted one down there. In Acts chapter… what did I put there? Acts chapter (Karen Batchelor (KB): 14:22) 14:22. Apostle Paul says--I’ll tell you a little secret, I am dyslexic. I’m not teasing. I don’t remember numbers. If you start a Scripture, I will finish it. If you ask me what book it’s in, I’ll tell you. If you ask me the number, phoosh—sometimes I remember, but I struggle with that. So I’ll tell you what Paul says. Paul says, “It is through much tribulation we shall enter the kingdom of God.” Not from, but through. And then another reference in Matthew chapter 24, Jesus says there, I think I’ve written that one out (Karen Batchelor (KB): Yes) He says--yeah! He says, “Then you will be delivered up to tribulation, and they will kill you, and you will be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.” He makes that statement in Matthew 24 before the rapture takes place. And that’s one of many in the Bible that you can look at. You know, there’s a book I wrote called, “Anything But Secret.” And it’s just a little book that Amazing Facts carries—that you could go to the Amazing Facts website and order—and it’ll tell you more about that subject. Or I think you can even read it for free online. I was I search online, you just type in a lot of these book titles and they’re all posted now.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #4: Hmm...That’s great. “And they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” Matthew 24:30. What do these clouds represent?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Good question! Jesus is not coming in riding on cloud of steam or H2O vapor. In the Bible, clouds are often used to signify a multitude of creatures. Matter of fact, in Ezekiel 37, it talks about Gog and Magog cover the earth like a cloud. And when Jesus comes in the clouds—who knows what they are—clouds of what? (Audience answers angels) Angels! That’s right. And He left with the angels; He’s coming with all the angels. What do you think it’s gonna look like? We read that the other night. He will come with all the holy angels. When a billion angels come surrounding Jesus, what’s it gonna look like? It’s gonna look like a cloud. Sometimes they’re called “chariots of fire.” “All around Elisha were chariots of fire.” You’ve heard that phrase before. Well, what caught up Elijah when he went into heaven? A whirlwind, a chariot of fire, these angels of God caught Him up. So He’s coming in clouds of angels.

Karen Batchelor (KB): (In a faint voice) Is there a scripture?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Are there--is there a Scripture for that? Well, yeah, in Acts chapter 1 where it says He is gonna come as He left. There were angels there when He left, and there’ll be angels there when He comes. There’s also one in Psalms. I can’t remember the verse. Didn’t I tell you I was dyslexic? I’m sorry. (Audience laughs)

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #5: Yes you did. Alright, if God is love, then why did He make a devil?

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #6: Will God save people who never heard the gospel?

Doug Batchelor (DB): There will be people who will be in the kingdom. In Romans chapter 1, Paul talks about people who understand the law of God that’s written in their hearts. And there are many people who are living up to the light that they know, and they will be in the kingdom. Jesus when He began His ministry, He said in the book of Mark, He was preaching, “There were many lepers in the land in the days of Elisha but none of them was cleansed but, Naaman, the Syrian,” not a Jew. And then Jesus said, “There were many widows in the land in the day of the famine of Elijah, but none of them was Elijah sent to except to the Canaanite woman.” And they became so outraged--they almost threw Jesus off a cliff for saying that, because He was basically saying, “There are going to be people in the kingdom who are not part of your church.” He said to the--his Jewish relatives there in Nazareth. There are gonna be others who walk in the light that God has given them. Jesus said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” And “If we did not see, then we would have no sin.” In other words, what that means is, we’re more culpable when we know God’s will and we don’t do it. There are some people who are walking in the light they have, and God is working with them.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #7: How do you recommend I begin to study the Bible?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Good question. I remember when I first starting--studying the Bible. First of all, I thought it was called, “The King James Virgin.” Took me a while before I ever looked at that very close. (Audience laughs) And I--keep in mind it was also in a cave, and I didn’t have anyone explaining things to me, so I really struggled. Every time I came to the word “brethren” in the Bible, I thought that said “breathing.” (Audience laughs) And there’s a lot of “breathing” in the book of Acts. And I thought it was a spiritual term. “All the breathing gathered together.” (Audience laughs) (Laughs) But so I didn’t understand everything. But you know what helped me is I--I did start reading through Genesis because—you know, you read through the book of Genesis and I don’t know what the percentage is, but a vast amount of the rest of the Bible is rooted in the stories in Genesis.

Read Genesis, get the background. If you like the stories in the Bible, you might also read up through (oh) Exodus 22. And then you could read First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings—that gives you the history of the Bible until they were carried away captive. Then read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the gospels. That’s what really changed my life—is reading the gospels. And you know, someone said reading the Bible Marti…who is it? Martin Luther said, “Study the Bible the way you pick apples.” First what you want to do is you shake the whole tree, and then you kind’a shake the branches, and then you shake the limbs, and then you look behind the twigs and the leaves, and you just do it in progression. First you get the whole panorama and then go deeper and deeper—it’s like digging for gold.

Karen Batchelor (KB): And you start by inviting the Holy Spirit to (Doug Batchelor (DB): Thank you) bring to your mind the things that He wants to teach you, through the study of the Bible.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and pray before you read that the Author will speak to you. And one more thought. Go ahead, you were gonna say something?

Karen Batchelor (KB): I was just say, and always remem…member that you need to memorize the words that God gives you. He gives us all kinds of promises and encouragement and we need to put them in our hearts to memorize them. “Thy words I have kept put in my heart that I may not sin.” (Doug Batchelor (DB): Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin), yeah!

Doug Batchelor (DB): Keep in mind that the Bible is like a different language. I mean doesn’t matter what translation—God speaks in a different language of the world. And that’s one reason we’re doing this meeting, is to help people to understand the language of the Bible. When a baby first hears its parent speak, it doesn’t understand everything they’re saying, but the more it listens, the more it understands. Keep reading. Some people say, “I read it you know, I don’t understand.” Keep reading, you will. It’ll come to you.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #8: And there are other ways as you get deeper into the word of learning how to study and doing comparative Scripture to Scripture (Doug Batchelor (DB): That’s right) and with--with different dictionaries and study things as well. Alright. Where do the different races come from?

Doug Batchelor (DB): You’d be surprise how often I get that question. There are people who believe that Noah had three children that represented the three races. Well that would be strange. According to the Bible, the races did not divide from Noah’s children; they divided from the tower of Babel. And the different races—well first of all, does everyone here know we’re all related to Adam? Okay. Does everyone here know that we’re all related to Noah? Of course! And from the tower of Babel, when God confounded the languages, people dispersed around the world, different propensities—genetically, different propensities built up because of a certain amount of isolation. But that’s where you get the different races.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #9: Alright. Why do some numbers appear so frequently in the Bible?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Well, numbers do have spiritual meaning. And for instance the number 40 often represents a generation. “They wandered 40 years till that generation died off.” The number 7 represents a complete cycle or perfection in the Bible. Twelve is a number for the church and the leadership of the church. Revelation chapter 12—not that the chapter means anything—you’ve got a woman with 12 stars above her head, the new Jerusalem is a city with 12 foundations, 12 gates, 12,000 furlongs, 12 kinds of fruit 12 times a year on the tree of life, which means a hundred forty four different kinds of fruit a year, right? It’s like Baskin Robbins. (Audience laughs) And so that 12 is a number—we actually have posted—some people said they have trouble downloading the Bible symbol key, we’ll fix that if--if it is true. (Karen Batchelor (KB): It’s fixed now) It’s fixed now. (Karen Batchelor (KB): Uhmmmm) But we’re not only-- not only we gonna post the Bible symbol keys, but we’ll also post some of the common Bible numbers and their meanings.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #10: Revelation 3:21. “To Him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.” What does Jesus mean when He said that those who overcome will sit at His throne?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Well, in revelation chapter 20, it also tells us that the redeemed will live and reign with Christ. Now we’re getting ahead, cause we do actually have a lesson on Revelation 20 and 21 dealing with Heaven, and 22. So I don’t wanna say too much. But the very fact that we’re gonna live and reign with Christ, God Himself is gonna move the capital of the universe—that’s--that’s hard for us to comprehend—to our planet. The New Jerusalem comes down. God Himself will be with them. And so the fact we are living in the city with the Creator—in that sense, we all living and reigning with Him and the word “throne” there means leadership. And that--that we reign with Christ. It doesn’t mean that there’s gonna be a zillion thrones lined up next to Jesus.

Karen Batchelor (KB)—Question #11: Who do you think the 144,000 are? And what about the two witnesses that are slain in Revelation?

Doug Batchelor (DB): We have a lesson that deals more with the temple. In the Bible, the temple of Jerusalem and the sanctuary, and there’s a lot of confusion about Israel. And keep in mind as I share these things with you, I’m coming from a Jewish background. I think it is a mistake to believe that the 144,000 that you find in Revelation chapter 7 and chapter 14 are 12,000 from the literal tribes of Israel. I think they represent the church. There maybe literal Jews there. But it talks about from the tribe of Issachar, and Manasseh, and Zebulun, and Nephtali. If you know your Bible, you know that before Jesus was born, those tribes were conquered by the Assyrians, and carried off, and they intermarried and pretty much disappeared as a distinct people. So those that are looking for 12,000 purebred Jews from these tribes is really absurd! The Bible tells us, “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed.” The—“He is not a Jew,” Paul says, “who is one outwardly, He is a Jew who is one inwardly.” We become a spiritual nation. Jesus said, “Many will come from the East and the West and sit down in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the children will be cast out.” So he’s not a Jew who is a literal Jew, but a spiritual Jew. “Circumcision is not in the flesh but in the heart.” There is a nation of spiritual Jews. Now God still has a plan for the Jewish pis--people and His country over there. I believe that, don’t misunderstand. But the 144,000, when you look at the sons of Jacob, they had some of the same characteristics as the 12 apostles. They all had different personalities, you ever noticed that? And so they represent the--the different people that God is gonna bring from all different backgrounds into His church. On the breast of the High Priest was a beautiful golden plaque with 12 stones. Each of those stones was different. No two of them were the same. One for each of the tribes. God’s church is made up of a great diversity of people from all different backgrounds. I have more to say on the 144,000. Matter of fact, I wrote a little book on that once, and so there’s a whole lot more (background music starts) I could say. Alright, thank you very much and don’t forget if you have questions on our subject tonight or any Bible subject, email us at prophecycode.com. (Background music ends)

Sermon Questions: Douglas Batchelor

I hope that you’re taking advantage of using the lessons that you--some of you’re groups—I know here, we’re using the lessons and the lesson that goes along with our study tonight is dealing with Did God create a devil? And the sermon title for tonight is, “The Dragon’s Egg.”

And of course who here is wondering what this subject’s about? Who’s the dragon in Revelation? (Audience answers Satan) The dragon is Satan. Now people wanna know—someone asked the question, did God create the devil? If God is love, why would He make Satan? And people wanna know where the Dragon came from. You ever heard the expression before, “What came first, the chicken or the egg”? Supposed to be a conundrum that people ponder. You could ask a lot of questions like that—that are difficult to answer. Where did AIDS come from? Who had the first case? How did the germ develop? You could ask that about a lot of diseases. When did that first mutated cell develop, and what caused it? And you know, the Bible speaks of a number of mysteries. One is the mystery of iniquity. And there are some mysteries, and one of them is, how did evil originate? You know there’s two primary mysteries in the Bible: one is called the mystery of iniquity, and the other is mystery of godliness, which we’ll talk about another night.

As an amazing fact, I thought you would find it interesting. I’ve got a friend of mine who has traveled around the world. He’s an artist and he’s noticed that in virtually all of the cultures of the world that they have these flying serpents. You can go to--we’ve got this being translated at a church in Chinese right now, he said “Oh yeah, of course we have flying dragons in China.” That you can find them in South America. They’ve got them in the culture of the Aborigines. Part of the reason for that is, they actually got some lizards that run around Australia that looked like they’ve got wings on their heads. There are some serpents, you know, there are serpents that actually glide. In South America and Indonesia, they jump through the trees, they spread out the rib cages, and there’s a lizard here you can see. He actually spreads out his rib--rib cage and he could fly.

But it’s believed that there may have even been flying serpents a long time ago. And even today, when they look on the--the bottom of the serpents, they find what they call “vestigial remnants,” some kind of limb, and they’re not sure what this is, they don’t know. The biologists don’t know. “Is this” they say, “are they legs that once existed are going away or they’re legs that are coming in.” And there’re actually some who wonder, “Are they what they call vestigial remnants of wings because the Bible says, ‘God cursed the serpent that he should go upon his belly and eat dust’”? Well, we know serpents climb trees. We know they live underground. They live in the water. But did they once fly? And it makes you wonder. So maybe some of these stories about flying dragons are rooted not only in myth—but you know, all myth is usually rooted in an element of truth. So we’re gonna talk a little bit about where the dragon’s egg first hatched.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #1: Question number one in our study. With whom did sin originate?

Now, we’re gonna have a number of Scriptures tonight and I want you to join along with me. If you look in the Bible in John chapter 3 verse 8, it says, “The Devil sinneth from the beginning.” So where did sin begin? With the Devil! If you take away the letter “d” what does it spell? Evil! He is consummate evil. He is the arch villain. Something else that you’ll find that is true of virtually every religion in the world—they recognize that there are some titanic battle that is raging between the powers of good and evil. Sometimes they call them the powers of light and darkness. And there’s a numbers number of lab--labels for that. But everybody can see there is good in the world, there are good people, and there’s evil in the world, and it’s not just environmental and learned behavior. Sometimes we see unusual deeds of almost supernatural divine kindness. And then we’ve also seen unusual deeds of supernatural evil in people—that it’s even hard to comprehend. So we know these things exist.

Revelation chapter 12 verse 9 tells us, “That old serpent called the Devil and Satan.” So who is the dragon, the serpent, the devil in Revelation? I already gave you the answer, didn’t I? He’s the dragon, the--Satan is. Who’s buried in “Grant’s Tomb”? This is just a test. Where is “London Bridge”? Not in London, (ah huh) I got you. London Bridge is in Arizona—they moved it, did you know that? So don’t--don’t just think everything falls along its label. Okay.

You know, I thought I should pause right here and just bring something else. Why would we include in a study—a Revelation prophecy study—a lesson on the Devil and the origin of evil? Because in virtually every prophetic book of the Bible, you can see that there is this--this battle that is raging, this controversy between these two forces. The two primary characters that you find in Revelation are the Lamb and the Dragon, good and evil, light and darkness, truth and error, and they’re at war with each other.

You know, before a champion boxer takes on a worthy opponent, if he’s smart, he sits down and he watches tapes, and studies the tactics of his adversary. And you can bet that these professional teams, especially if they’re in some playoff—they will watch tapes of their opponents and say, “Notice this move, this is their pattern” and they study their-- their tactics and their patterns so they know how to defend themselves. It is a prudent thing for us to do to understand how the Devil operates. Now there’s a very thin line between being aware of how the Devil operates and people who are preoccupied with the Devil, and I don’t recommend that.

People would come up to me and they want me to get involved in exorcisms and stuff—that’s not my gift. (And a matter of fact, if I were you, I’d be careful. If you know somebody out there that’s handing out business cards that says “Exorcisms R’ Us.” (Audience laughs) And there are people that have ministries that go around and they’re always preoccupied with casting out devils. And they say, “You’ve got the devil of hay fever, come here, be healed.” You know, and--you know, I don’t find that in the Bible. Did Jesus ever go looking for somebody and hunting out? If--if Jesus was in a situation where someone demon-possessed was there, He would deal with it. But He didn’t go looking for it. And I’ve been at meetings just like this where people were actually possessed with the Devil and started shrieking and screaming. We had to stop what we were doing, just pray for him—and we saw the Devil cast out. I believe that you’re really dealing with a very real force, it’s not a theory. People aren’t just saying devil when they mean chemical imbalance and psychological problems. And we use the word devil for everything and--and while it’s true sometimes we do use the word devil when it may be medical.

The Bible says that we don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, Ephesians chapter 6. “But there are principalities and powers and rulers of darkness and high places.” The Devil is very real. I believe that God and His angels come to my meeting, but I can tell you, the adversary comes too. I’m in good company. Even Jesus had a Judas, and the Bible says, “Satan entered Him.” So there are battles raging, it’s a very appropriate that we take time to understand this subject tonight, amen?

Doug Batchelor (DB): Sermon Question #2: Alright, next question. Number two. What was Satan’s name before he sinned and where was he living at that time?

Answer? Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12. You’ll find a lot of information about the Devil and where he came from in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. “How thou art fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer,” you can say the answers with me, “Oh Lucifer, son of the morning.” Now Lucifer is not inherently a bad name, it means light bearer. That’s where we get the word lus--lucite, it bends light. You’ve heard of the paint, Lucite—luminescence, all rooted in that word, light. I was doing laundry. I was doing a meeting one day and I washed my own clothes. And at a Laundromat—I’m very thankful we have a washer and dryer where we’re staying right now—and Karen’s doing the laundry, praise the Lord! (Audience laughs) And but I was watching the clothes dry—which isn’t really entertaining. (Laughs) And you can get dizzy. And there was a boy that was on the linoleum there playing with one of his little matchbox cars, or something like that, so I just--I’m sitting and I started talking to him and chatted a minute and said, “So what’s your name?” and without even looking up he says, “Lucifer!” (Audience laughs) And I was dumbfounded. And I thought, “What a cruel thing to do.” Some parents named their kid Lucifer, and he was dead serious. (Audience laughs) Whew. So I said, “I suppose you don’t go to church, huh”? (Audience laughs) (Laughs) But I wouldn’t do that. The name itself is not bad, when God—that was his good name before he fell. His name was changed to Satan, and the word “Satan” means the adversary, the accuser.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Sermon Question #3: And again, question number three. What was the origin of Lucifer? What responsible position did he hold, and how does the Bible describe him?

There’s a lot we’re gonna cover here now. You can read in Ezekiel 28. I told you that’s one of the passages. The Bible says, “Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day that thou was created, until iniquity was found in thee.” He was what? (Audience answers perfect) Perfect—created perfect! The Devil was not born. Angels aren’t born—they’re created. Someone asked me in this question. In Genesis chapter 6, it talks about the sons of God took wives of the daughters of man and had these unusual children. People wonder where those demons having intimate relations with humans. I’m not gonna answer, you have to ask the question. Write that down. People wonder. Bible doesn’t say that angels procreate. I’m giving you the answer, I didn’t mean to. The Bible says that they’re created, they don’t marry or intermarry, they’re--they’re created creatures. And the Devil was created. Was he created with a flaw or a defect? He was perfect.

What else do we learn about the Devil? The Bible says in Ezekiel 28, “Thou were the anointed cherub who covers…,” a covering cherub, “…for I established you so.” Now what does that mean? Some of you have seen pictures of the Ark of the Covenant—you know what I’m talking about? It’s a golden box with two angels on top. This is an earthly representation of the throne of God in heaven, where there are real angels by the throne of God. Have you read the prophecy in Isaiah chapter 6? It tells about the conversion of Isaiah where he has a vision of heaven. And there’s these two angels by the throne of God, and what do they say? They’re called seraphim—angels are called cherubim, angels, seraphim, flaming ones. And these two angels go “Holy, holy, holy.” Covering cherubs—Lucifer held one of those positions, the highest of God’s created beings, a ministering spirit.

And some have speculated, you’ve heard of Gabriel he probably held the other position. He’s often called “the angel of the Lord,” or Gabriel by name. And he was perfect when God made Him, beautiful! And while I’m on that point, I should probably see if I could debunk some of the common myths. If you close your eyes right now, participate. Do you trust me? Close your eyes. I’m not gonna hurt you. When I say picture the Devil, alright. Now what did you picture? Were there horns? (Audience laughs) Come on, ‘fess up. How many of you saw a red somewhere in your picture? (Audience laughs) These typical representations of the Devil that we often see look something like this or some variant of that, he’s got bat wings and he’s got you know, red leotards, and--and (audience laughs) I don’t know if the Devil, (audience still laughing) if he does trapeze or something, but--and you know, we talk about angels food cake, but we also have devil’s food cake, right? And--and they’ve got red devil paint, and they’ve always got these little pictures of the devil. What’s on the end of his tail? He’s got a point, right? What is he carrying in his hands? Pitchfork! Because he’s supposedly in charge of hell and he uses that to make sure that the sinners gets cooked evenly. (Audience laughs) So he flips them every now and then. (Audience still laughing) And I guess, I don’t know that or he bails hay in his spare time. But we’ve got these mythical concepts of the devil that come from the Dark Ages.

Now there was a Greek god called “Pluto,” you’ve--you’ve heard of the “The Hounds of Hell.” That’s not in the Bible. It comes from Greek mythology. And a lot of the concepts that we have about the Devil are corrupted concepts that have come from Greek mythology, with Pluto the god of Hades, and the Devil is very real. And he would like for you to think that he’s some comical character or some hideous creature cause in reality, he’s not. In reality he’s a very beautiful creature, which leads us to question number four.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Sermon Question #4: What led to Lucifer’s fall? What led Lucifer to sin?

Answer? You can read in Ezekiel chapter 28:17. “Thine heart was lifted up because of…” what? His beauty! He was absolutely dazzling, striking, gorgeous, beautiful creature. “Thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” You know beauty can be a blessing but it can be a curse. And even the Bible recognizes this. And Solomon says that a beautiful woman without discretion is like a jewel of gold in a pig’s nose. And there are sometimes a few people—you know most of us look kind’a normal. You notice I said—normal, I didn’t say homely, I said normal. (Audience laughs) That’s true, isn’t that right? Yeah! And every now and then there are a few people who are exceptionally good looking, symmetrical—they just got all the right parts and the right genes. And we put them on camera, we put them in the magazines, we multiply their images so that all of us can feel insecure about how we look, right? (Audience laughs) And what’s interesting is even if you interview some of these gorgeous models and Hollywood stars, they’re insecure about their appearance, if they tell you. Everyone else is worshipping and adoring how good looking they are, and they’ve always grown up insecure. But you know a Christian--every Christian should be good looking on the inside. (Audience says Amen)

I heard a pastor say one time, there’s really four categories of people. You’ve got people who are—and he used the term ugly-beautiful. What he meant by that was they may be homely on the outside but they’re beautiful on the inside. They’re--you know, got a good disposition, they’re positive, people wanna be around them, and they--they have a quick smile. And--and then you’ve got people who are beautiful-ugly. And those are the people who are maybe beautiful on the outside but they’re conceited, and self-centered, and their always looking at themselves. I knew this girl who was very pretty but she was sort of…no one wanted to marry her. Guys wanted to date her but they didn’t want to marry her cause she was so preoccupied with her looks. She’s always reading “Glamour” magazine, whenever she walked by a store window, she’d look at her reflection, and check herself, I mean it was really pathetic. And then you got the people who are very rare, but they’re beautiful-beautiful. They’re the ones who are not only attractive outwardly, but they’re humble, they’re kind, they’re not fool of themselves, and those are rare individuals. And then nobody wants to be the fourth category which is you know, ugly-ugly. (Laughs) (Audience laughs) There’s no excuse for that. (Audience still laughing)

Alright, then we read on, in Isaiah chapter 14 verse 13 and 14. “For you said in your heart, ‘I will be like the Most High God.’” Lucifer wanted God’s position. He was--he became very conceited. And over a period of time, he began to wish that he had God’s position. He wanted actually overthrow God. I mean that’s--you know, it--it’s inconceivable for us how the creation would want to overthrow the Creator. But that’s essentially what happened. And he began to circulate like a spiritual politician among the other angels and say, “You know God got this law that we’re supposed to follow, we don’t really need, that we’re angels we can think for ourselves, and why are we taking orders from God? And why don’t we have the ability to create like these other creatures humans in our own image”? And--and he began to sow seeds of discontent.

You know when you read in Proverbs the seven things that God hates—you know what the--the one that he hates the most is? He that sows discord among brethren. People that are trying to create strife, and they’re always trying to pit people against each other, and this is what the devil was a master of. His pride was the genesis of his fall. He was so full of himself, and pride is the foundation of virtually every other sin. But he was jealous at the worship and adoration that God received. And when the angels gathered to cry “Holy, holy, holy,” to the Lord and to worship God and they bowed before Him, Lucifer started thinking, “Well I’m powerful, I’m beautiful” and he was, “Why aren’t they worshiping me? I should have that position.” How he could things these things I don’t know. But when you begin to entertain proud thoughts—have you ever noticed how power corrupts? And if a person allows success and power and good looks to go to their head, it can destroy them. These people self-destruct. And this is what began to happen until Lucifer was so successful, he is extremely cunning. And don’t forget, in the rebellion that he instigated in heaven, God, in fighting this, could only use truth. The Devil can use truth and mix it with error. So in that sense, he had an advantage. God can only use truth. “God cannot lie,” the Bible says. God does not tempt any man, neither can He be tempted.

And so Lucifer began—and some of you might be thinking—“Oh why didn’t God just snap his fingers or blink or wiggle his nose and say poof ‘I’m getting rid of him and starting over again.’” Factory defect! (Audience laughs) Couldn’t he have done that? Why didn’t God just vaporize Lucifer when he began to rebel in sin? Well for one thing God is longsuffering, isn’t He? If He was gonna act that way, we’d all be gone too, amen? (Audience answers amen). The other reason is God does not want His intelligent creatures to serve Him because of fear.

And after Lucifer had sowed these seeds of discord and doubt about God and His goodness and His government, if God had said, “You’re out of here” phssh and just all of the sudden there was a smoldering spot on the floor. God can do that, He’s God. If He had done it that way, the other angels would have gone “Ooh, we’d better listen to God. (Audience laughs) I wonder if Lucifer was right.” You see what I’m saying? He had to allow Lucifer to play out his rebellion so that this terrible experiment with sin would never happen in the universe again. And we’re gonna talk a little bit more about that tonight.

Now you might be thinking, “Well, Doug, obviously, since God knows all things.” Does God know all things? “When God made Lucifer, He must have known that he was gonna sin, and He still made him. Obviously, somewhere in his DNA”—if angels even have DNA, “somewhere in his transistors or whatever it is that makes him, a wire was crossed, how come God allowed that? God did something wrong.” People say that. “Every good and perfect gift is from God.” The Bible tells us in the book of James. God doesn’t make mistakes. There is a risk in love. God wants to love us, and God wants reciprocal love. Let me answer this question by asking a question.

Those of you who are here that are parents—let me see your hands. All who are parents, come on, cooperate. Okay. Why did you choose to have children? You’re thinking to yourself now, “I’ve asked that question many times myse…” (Audience laughs) (Laughs) “Boy, did I have illusions.” I--and you know what I really think is funny when I see young couple and some gooey-eyed young gal, she says, “I want a baby.” You know, and that always reminds me of when my kids say, “Dad, can we get a puppy”? I said, “That would be fine if we can give it back when it stops being a puppy, but they don’t stay puppies.” (Audience laughs) And kids turn into teenagers, right? (Audience still laughing) And then you think, “Well, they’re demon-possessed.” (Laughs) (Audience still laughing)

But why did you choose to have children? Did you take a risk? Anyone here get a written guarantee from the doctor that your child would always be complacent and obedient and nice children and (uh), no. How many of you knew that there’d be a chance they would disobey at some point? And you still had them. Why? Love takes risks. When you got married, did you have any written guarantee you’d never have a dispute with your spouse? And you still got married. Does love take risks? Because God makes us with a free will, He took that risk.

Now, I’d like to illustrate something for you. Here Bonnie is trying to give me a remote that works. They--they found out the--the--the--the change, I don’t wanna get mixed up. The changer isn’t working. The Devil did something to it! (Audience laughs) Believe me, whenever I do this presentation, something happens, virtually every time. Now I--I’ve got a little illustration here that always, you know sometimes I illustrate things cause it helps seal things in people’s mind. Just bear with me here for a second.

Tape player: Good evening, Doug.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Good evening, tape player.

Tape player: How are you doing this fine evening?

Doug Batchelor (DB): I’m fine. How are you?

Tape player: Oh, I think I’m okay. I have new batteries now.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Uh, that’s good, glad to hear that.

Tape player: Doug, I’m meaning to tell you something.

Doug Batchelor (DB): We’re all listening.

Tape player: I wanted to tell you how wonderful and awesome and great you are.

Doug Batchelor (DB): N—oh.

Tape player: I just wanted to praise you Doug.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Oh. (Audience laughs)

Tape player: I also wanted to tell you that I love you, Doug.

Doug Batchelor (DB): Oh.

Tape player: You’re so kind and generous and merciful…

Doug Batchelor (DB): Oh.

Tape player: And witty and tall and dark and handsome. (Audience laughs) And I like the way you preaches. (Audience laughs) I love you, Doug. (Audience still laughing) But wait—listen, I love you, I really do. Will you be my sweetie pie? I love you, Doug. You’re so wonderful. I love you, from the bottom of my transistors. I love you, Doug. I love you, Doug. I love you, Doug. I love you. But wait listen, it’s true. I do. I love you, Doug. Doug, I love you. (Audience laughs)

Oh, you know I was feeling a little bit insecure. Karen hasn’t told me lately. I feel much better now. (Audience laughs) Oh, she told me I’m just said that I know she did. She told me today. Do I feel better because a tape player told me he loved me? Why not? I mean, if that really worked, we can make a lot of money selling love on a cassette tape, right? (Audience laughs)

Can you create an intelligent being that says, “I love you God, I love you God.” Is that love? You know what forced love is? Rape! God does not force us to love Him. He makes His creatures with a free will, and we must choose to love. And that--I mean, He--one of the greatest demonstrations of God’s love for us is that He took the risk to create a creature that would not love Him. And there’s a lot on this world that way too. Correct? And this is a very important principle, once you understand this. It--it helps us to understand the battle between good and evil. Well, finally things in heaven became so unbearable that something changed.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #5: Question number five. What happened in heaven as a consequence of Lucifer’s rebellion?

Answer? The Bible tells us, “And there was war,” this is Revelation 12:7. This is all in the Bible, in the prophecy. “There was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels”? Wait a second, the dragon has angels? He evidently persuaded one third of the angels to follow him cause it tells us in Revelation when the dragon was cast to the earth, one third of the stars of heaven followed him. What are stars a symbol for in Revelation then? Angels. You can find that in Revelation chapter 1, too. That’ll be on our sheet of symbols that you can download. So Satan was cast out of heaven. I don’t know what kind of weapons angels used. The Bible is not clear on that. I know they’re powerful. It must have been terrifying to behold a war between Michael and his angels, and the dragon and his angels. Sparks must have really been flying. I mean, if man can make nuclear weapons—what was that war like? But Satan and his angels were evicted from the capital of the universe—heaven, God’s dwelling place. And where did they go?

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #6: Question number six. Where is Satan’s present headquarters? From where is he continuing? What’s his staging ground for this battle?

Answer? Revelation chapter 12 also, “His tale drew a third part of the stars of heaven…” Those are the angels. “…and did cast them to…” Where? (Audience answers the earth) The earth! So where is Satan setting up his headquarters now? It also says in Revelation 12 verse 9. “He was cast out into the earth and his angels were cast out with them.” Some of you have read the book of Job, probably one of the oldest books in the Bible. And the Lord says to the Devil when the Devil comes to this celestial meeting—doesn’t happen on earth. Maybe he comes to the gates of heaven, I don’t know. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come”? And Satan answered the Lord and said, “I have come from going to and fro on the earth and from walking back and forth on it.” You can just see Satan pacing. The Bible says he walks to and fro like a roaring lion. You ever seen a lion pacing in its cage? He is absolutely rabid. The Devil right now knows that his doom is sealed. Matter of fact the Bible says, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, for the Devil has come down to you.” Satan is setting up his headquarters here.

And you know these--these fables that the devil’s got, you know, a condominium way down in the caverns of the earth somewhere, and--and he’s got his office here. There’s really--it doesn’t teach that in the Bible. Satan is not in the middle of the earth—he’s walking around on the earth. And he’s messing with people on the earth. And he works. Most of us when we say, “The Devil made us do it.” And I hope you don’t say that, cause the Devil can’t make you do it. We must cooperate. But most of the time it’s not the Devil. He’s operating through his fallen angels—sometimes called demons—his imps. And there are few times when Satan himself gets involved. You can be sure that he was involved in the temptation of Christ that we’re gonna talk about in just a little bit.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #7: Number seven. When God created Adam and Eve, what one thing did he forbid them to do?

Now we’re gonna talk about where Satan sort of entered into the scene of humanity. Genesis chapter 2 verse 17. “But the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.” God would not allow Lucifer to disseminate his rebellion freely all through the cosmos. He restricted him. He said--you know Lucifer said, “It’s not fair that You keep me from sharing with others.” You know God allowed him to share among the angels what he believed. “God believes in freedom of speech,” you might say, in that sense. And He said, “Alright, if you wanna tempt my creatures, I’ll allow you to. But you can only tempt them by this tree. And I’ll tell Adam and Eve, ‘Don’t eat from the fruit of that tree.’” Simple test! And God said, “If you disobey, you will die.” God wanted man to live forever.

By the way, if you want to know what God’s plan is for you, read Genesis chapter 1 and 2. The Bible says, “Everything was good, good, very good!” God put Adam and Eve in a paradise beyond your comprehension. That’s where He wants you to dwell. Matter of fact, from Genesis to Revelation, man lost the garden, in Genesis chapter 3. First three chapters tell about a paradise lost. The last three chapters tell about paradise restored. The first three chapters tell how man was evicted and he could not eat form the tree of life. The last three chapters tell how access is provided again through Jesus to eat from the tree of life. And between those two extremes, God is trying to get us back to the garden. That’s where He wants you to dwell with Him. Amen? (Audience answers Amen) Wants to walk with you in the garden. You know that song, “He walks with me and He talks with me?”

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #8: Question number eight. What medium did Satan use to deceive Eve, and what lies did Satan tell her?

Answer. Genesis chapter 3 verse 1. “Now the…” what? “The serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.” Now one artist depicts--oh, and I’ve gotta pause here. Let me make a little disclaimer for our friends who are watching, and our friends who are here. The pictures that you’re seeing on the screen are artist’s concepts. They come from a variety of places. Many of the evangelists that we work with have shared some of these. Don’t take some of these too seriously. Do you understand that? Do we have any photographs of the garden of Eden? I’ll show you a sermon on heaven later. I wish I had photographs, but I don’t. All we have are artist’s concepts. I’ve also got a message on the lake of fire, and I can assure you, I’ve no photographs of that. I don’t want any either. But so don’t take the pictures too seriously. They’re just to help you. You know, especially in North America, we’re so visually oriented with the entertainment that I’ve gotta try and do everything I can to keep your attention. So that’s what that’s for.

Here the picture, he’s got serpents got feathers, and I don’t think that he probably had reptile-like wings but anyway. So God—I’m sorry, the devil used the medium of a serpent, who is a very hypnotic animal. And let’s--you know even Solomon said, “One of the mysteries of life is the way of a serpent upon a rock.” You ever seen the hypnotic way that serpents move and sometimes hypnotize their prey. And you know the serpent can pretend to be dead when it’s not. There’s a lot of se--cold-blooded creatures. I used to live up in the mountain and I had a snake stick and I would catch snakes.

By the way, in the Bible, when Moses lifted up the serpent on a stick, and Jesus said that was a sign of His victory over the Devil? Shepherds use to carry sticks and when they killed a snake, they did not pick the snake up with their hands cause sometimes you think they’re dead and they’re not dead. They can turn around and bite even though they’re mortally wounded, they’re still deadly. Does the Devil know that he’s defeated right now? Is he still deadly? So you pick him up with a stick. And that serpent held up on a pole, when they looked, when the people of Israel were bit by the serpents, and they looked at that serpent that Moses held up on a pole and they were healed. When Jesus died on the cross, it was a sign that the serpent was defeated. Doesn’t mean Jesus is the Devil. And so it’s a symbol for any shepherd—and this was a nation of shepherds, a serpent on a pole meant a doomed snake.

So he appeared to Eve and he said, “Has God said that you’re not to eat from the trees”? And then you go on to Genesis chapter 3 verse 4. “The serpent said to the woman, ‘You’ll not really die.’” He is a murderer and he is a liar. Did God say you’ll die? Serpent said, “You won’t really die.” And he’s still telling that lie today.

Revelation chapter 12 verse 9. “So the dragon was cast out, that old Devil and Satan.” Now this--I’m sorry, that’s serpent of old called the evil and Satan. And so when we look in Genesis, the first medium through which the Devil communicated was a serpent, and so that sort of stuck that became his logo through the Bible. So many times when you see serpents in the Bible who does it represent? In these stories there’s a spiritual meaning. In this prophecy code meeting, we wanna give you some of these keys to unlock it.

Now the first prophecy in the Bible we’re looking at right now. Genesis chapter 3 verse 15. After Adam and Eve fell, I don’t have to rehearse the whole story, you know it right? After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, and what kind of fruit was it? I knew some--I heard someone said “apple,” yes you did! I heard it. (Audience laughs) Where does it say it was an apple? Apples got a bad rap and I--have you ever seen the Devil holding out a pineapple? (Audience laughs) Or a banana? “Eat this banana” No, it wasn’t that. (Audience laughs). It’s always an apple. It doesn’t say that in the Bible. It tells us it was called the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. I don’t think that when you eat an apple that—and what do they call this? (Audience answers Adam’s apple) Adam’s apple! (Audience laughs) Cause it got stuck when he ate his first bite, right…? (Audience laughs)…in his throat, evidently. It doesn’t say that in the Bible. (Audience laughs) There’s a lot of myths that we have. It was--we don’t know what it looks like. It was some kind of fruit in this one tree. There’s only one tree like that in the world and there was one tree of life; two trees in the midst of the garden. One tree of life, “Tree of death,” you might say. And so it didn’t necessary look like a red delicious apple. We don’t know what the fruit looked like.

Where was I before I got preoccupied with fruit? (Audience laughs) Oh--I’ll--oh, the first prophecy in the Bible. Thank you, dear. The first prophecy in the Bible, this is important. Here God said when He’s pronouncing the various curses because of sin. First of all Adam and Eve did die spiritually that day. They lost their eternal--they’re gift of eternal life. They were evicted from the garden. They couldn’t even eat from the tree of life anymore. And he began to die physically that day. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, between her seed between thy seed and her seed.”

Right there in the beginning, it talks about the seed of the woman. Now that’s significant because when you get to Revelation, it’s got this woman in Revelation 12:17, who is pregnant; she brings forth this promised child. “The dragon wants to devour the seed of the woman.” The word “seed” means the offspring. “The dragon wants to devour the seed of the woman.” And when he is caught up to God’s throne, did the Devil try to destroy Jesus as a baby? Did the Devil try to destroy Moses as a baby? The Devil knew that God was gonna come to the earth in the form of a man to save humanity, and he tried to stop it from happening.

Matter of fact, little trivial information—there are at least seven examples in the Bible of women who wanted to have babies but they were barren. And they miraculously had babies. Now let me see if I can remember them, you pray for me. They were Sarah, Abraham’s wife, Rebekah, Rachel was barren, prayed for, she had a baby. There was Hannah, there was the Shunamite woman, there was Samson, Samson’s mother, who was barren, and he was the offspring. Samson didn’t get pregnant. And (Audience laughs) then of course, John the Baptist. Jesus was a miracle birth but the Bible never says Mary was barren. In fact she had a miraculous birth as a virgin. Each one of those barren women all had boys, and all--and there’s seven of them. Isn’t that interesting?

And all of those baby boys were types of Christ. Isaac was a type of Christ—brought up in the mountain. Abraham offered him as a sacrifice but he came back alive. He didn’t die in other words. And Samuel, a priest and a prophet like Jesus. Samson, type of Christ—spread out his arms and laid down his life and died, right? Like Jesus. And you can go through all of these women who had these boys, “The seed of the woman,” and they were types of Christ. Then when you get to Revelation, it talks about the seed of a woman—it ought to click, “What it’s talking about”? Jesus is the seed of the woman.

And so when you start reading about the Dragon’s wroth against the woman. Listen to what it says at the end of Revelation 12 verse 17. “And the Dragon was wroth with the woman,” once the seed is caught up, what did we learn a woman represents in prophecy? A church! Is the Devil wroth with the church? “And he goes to make war with the remnant” or remainder of her children, “that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus.” That’s another term for “they have the law and the prophets.” The Devil is especially angry at the church that has the Word of God. That’s the law and the prophets, and he makes war with her.

Now you know how the devil operates, are there a lot other different religions out in the world today? Are they all telling the truth? And so through the Bible, we find that the devil is symbolized by a serpent. Mark chapter 16 verse18. Jesus said, “And they will take up serpents.” How many of you have heard churches that actually encouraged their members to take up venomous snakes? They have some in North America, other parts of the world—that’s not what’s that talking about. It’s a symbol for will be able to fight the devil defensively. And Paul once got bit by a serpent, he didn’t take it up on purpose—it bit him, and he shook it off—is what it’s talking about. And so it says, “You’ll tread on the lion and the serpent, will overcome the Devil.”

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #9: Number nine. Why was eating a piece of fruit such a deadly offense? And why were Adam and Eve removed from the garden?

Answer? It says, “He that committeth sin is of the Devil.” When we obey the devil we become his servants. And again, you can read in Romans chapter 6 verse 16. “Do you not know…,” Paul says, “…to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are the slaves to whom you obey.” If we are perpetually listening to the temptations of the Devil, and we call ourselves the servants of Christ, are we really the servants of Christ? Or are we slaves?

Jesus came to set the captive free. He wants to save you from your slavery. The whole story of the Bible is the story of God saving a nation from slavery of the Pharaoh, who’s like the Devil, right? He wants to save you. God wants to deliver us from that temp—those temptations and sin. Number ten. When Jesus came, what did the angels say? “He will save his people from their sins.” He keeps us from the hour of temptation. The Lord has come to deliver us from the serpent. Say amen. (Audience says amen) That’s good news. You ought to buy into that.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #10: Number ten. What are some of Satan’s methods to hurt and deceive and discourage and destroy people?

Well, we’re gonna go through some of these quickly. And I’ve got them itemized by a-b-c-, so forth. “Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,” how much of the world? (Audience answers the whole world) Does that mean that everybody that calls himself a Christian, is a Christian? Does that mean every church that claims to follow the Bible really follows the Bible? How many of you here would agree that there are a lot of people who think they’re Christians and a lot of churches who think that they’re following the Bible that are deceived? Show me your hands. So we need to find out what the truth is, amen? Where do we go for the answer? (Audience answers the Bible) The Bible is the answer. We’re gonna have to study it together.

Answer b. Some of seve--the devil’s tactics. “And he was there in the wilderness 40 days tempted of Satan.” So he’s the tempter. And he co-mingles truth with error in his temptations and deceptions. Answer c. And he of course manipulates and tries to control people—sometimes possesses people. We’ll talk--ask me, write down a question. How does a person get spirit-possessed? Are they born that way? No. Some of you have babies with colic, and you’ve wondered.

Answer c. “They are the spirits of devils working miracles.” Let’s talk about this for a minute. Can the Devil work miracles? Yes, especially in the way he transforms himself. You could look for instance in II Corin—II Corinthians chapter 11 verse 14 and 15. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into…” what? (Audience answers angel of light) Can--was the Devil a beautiful angel? Can he look like a beautiful angel of light? Can he masquerade as a minister of righteousness? Will he have little horns poking out under his toupee? (Audience laughs) That’s why I go like this, natural, so you’ll have no doubts. (Audience laughs)

The Bible also says, “Beware false prophets that come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are…” what? “…ravening wolves!” Look like sheep, but they’re really wolves. Revelation chapter 13, we’re warned in this chapter that talks about the beast. “He does great wonders so that he can make fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of man.” Can the Devil perform miracles like this? How many of you remember the story in the Bible when Moses came before the Pharaoh, and one of the signs he gave was he threw his rod down, and what di--what did it turn into? (Audience answers serpent) There’s a reason for that. It turned into a serpent. And he was able to reach out and take control of it. It turned back into a rod, symbolizing that God gives His people power to defeat the Devil. But what did the Pharaoh’s magicians do when Moses did this? They threw down their staffs and they turned into serpents. So, and they did several counterfeit miracles for all the plagues.

Can the Devil counterfeit many of the miracles of God? So just because we see a preacher that is supposedly doing miracles and healing, does that mean he’s genuine? (Audience answers no) No. And you might ask me a question about that. I’ll share--I do--by the way, I believe in miracles. They’re in the Bible. I believe the Bible. I believe in the miraculous power of God. I believe in healing. But I also believe that the Devil counterfeits and deceives a lot of people.

Answer d. He’s called the accuser of our brethren. Remember he accused Job before God. He accused Zechariah, the high priest before God in the book of Zechariah. No, he accused Joshua, the high priest, in the book of Zechariah. And he’s the accuser of the brethren; stands there to accuse them day and night.

Answer e. He’s a murderer, from the beginning, inspired the first murder of Cain against Abel, and the very murder of Jesus. He had a front row seat in that, you can be sure.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon question #11: Number 11. How powerful and effective are Satan’s temptations and strategies?

Well, Bible is very clear. “There’ll be false christs and false prophets that will rise and show great signs and wonders that if it were possible, it would even deceive the very elect.” Jesus is warning us to be on our guard because “He’s deceiving the whole world,” the Bible says. We must not assume that we’re sharper than the Devil. Our only safety to keep from being deceived is being spirit-filled, with God’s spirit.

Don’t miss this point, friends. No matter how much information you assimilate during this seminar, that information will not save you. It is gonna be our relationship with Jesus. Some people come because you know, they--their curiosity is—they’re wanting to know what the facts, and they think if they know what the mark of the beast is, and when the beast is gonna come, and all this chronology, that they’re prepared. If you don’t have the spirit of God, you’re not gonna make it, because the Holy Spirit gives you the gift of discernment. That will help you know what’s true and what’s false, along with the Word.

Also we learn about the Devil, I Peter chapter 5 verse 8, “We must be sober and vigilant, cause he’s going around like a roaring lion seeking whom he might devour.” He is a predator. He’s looking for someone to devour. And he’s waiting for us to make a mistake. And you know lions use deception and stealth, they try to catch prey that is much faster than they are, because they use deception—they’re very clever in the way they hunt.

Now there are three primary areas where we’re all tempted. And I thought that--for this lesson to be practical, I wanna go through this quickly. First of all, you’ve got what they call the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. You can read that in I John chapter 2 verse 15 through verse 17. “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. For if any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that’s in the world, lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof; but he that does the will of God will abide forever.” Three principal areas.

Matter of fact, when Adam and Eve fell, they fell in the same three areas. That’s why it was important for Jesus to overcome in those same three areas. When you’re tempted, you might think, “Ah, Jesus doesn’t know what this is like, cause He never had to deal with cigarettes.” Well that’s the lust of the flesh. Every possible temptation scenario that you might concoct in your mind, Jesus met it in the wilderness, and overcame as an example, that you can be an overcomer, amen?

Matter of fact, in the messages of Revelation, this is prophecy. Revelation chapter 2 and 3, He gives seven messages to the seven churches, and every single message in every age of the church, in every church, in every situation, He says, “To him that overcomes, to him that overcomes, to him that overcomes,” you know why? Cause it is possible through Christ, for you to overcome.

There’s a very popular teaching in the world today that Jesus just came to white-wash our sin, and let us just live in sin believing we’re saved. He wants you to be delivered from the power of sin. How many of you believe He can do that? If you don’t believe it--amen (Audience clapping) I believe that God is more powerful than the Devil. (People still capping) If you don’t believe it, think about this, what--what that essentially means is that you think that the Devil is more powerful in tempting us, than Jesus is, in delivering us; which would mean in effect that your Devil is bigger than your God. So don’t fall for that. I even hear pastors making excuses for sin. God have mercy.

When Jesus was in the wilderness, there were three primary temptations, very quickly. First, the Devil said, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” How did Jesus meet this temptation? He said, “It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Right at the beginning, Jesus tells us, “It is written.” Word of God—that is our principal weapon. “Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin.”

You’re going to notice during this seminar—please bear with me, I’m gonna make a prediction based from the promises of God—you’re gonna see victories in your life during this seminar. You’re gonna feel conviction for sin. The Holy Spirit’s gonna start working on you. And this is the central theme of prophecy. It’s redemptive in its nature. It’s not just talking about beasts, and horns, and hoofs, and antichrists, and these things. The purpose of prophecy is to save. And you’re gonna experience through the Word—

power to overcome.

Second temptation came to Jesus. “The Devil took Him to the Holy City and set Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said, ‘Cast Yourself down, for it is written…” Ohh, the Devil is quoting the Bible now. You mean the Devil knows the Bible? Better than you do. Better than I do. That’s right. Some people think, “Doug, I’m a good Christian, I got six Bibles.” (Audience laughs) “Do you read ‘em”? “Well, no, but I sleep with one under my pillow.” (Audience laughs) And there really are Christians that think, you know, going to church with a Bible tucked under their arm, like it’s a good luck charm. (Audience laughs) The promise doesn’t say, “Thy word I have hid in my nightstand that I might (Audience laughs) not sin against Thee.” (Audience laughs)

I remember hearing a story about a little girl that was helping her mom cleaning. She was just getting old enough to help mom dust, and she’s dusting the coffee table and there’s this big family Bible and she first begins to notice it. It’s always been there her whole life, and she says, “Mama, whose book is this”? (Audience laughs) And she said, “Oh, honey, that’s God’s book.” She says, “Don’t you think we ought to give it back to Him, we’re not using it.” (Audience laughs) And that’s true in many families, isn’t it? Never have we had more Bibles, and more biblical illiteracy.

So the Devil’s now quoting the Bible, and he says, “It is written, His angels will bear Thee up, lest you dash your foot against the stone.” He quotes from Psalms 91, and by the way, he doesn’t quote the whole thing. He’s a deceiver. He misquotes—leaves part of it out that gives an opposite impression. “And Jesus answered and said unto him, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God.” He met it with Scripture again.

Third temptation, Matthew chapter 4 verse 8. “The Devil took Him up to an exceeding high mountain, and he gave Him a vision of all the kingdoms of the world, and all the glory of them. He didn’t show Jesus the slums. He said, “You’ve come into the world to die for this sinful race. This world is mine.” Even Jesus calls the Devil the “Prince of this world,” did you know that? He’s kidnapped our planet. Jesus came to pay the ransom for the kidnapping with His own life. And he said, “This kingdom is mine, you don’t have to die Jesus. If You worship me, I’ll give you the world.” Ohh, what a subtle tempta--and by the way, when the Devil appeared to Jesus to tempt Him, do you think he plopped down on the ground there in the wilderness, with his red leotards, and his bat wings, and said, “Hi, I’m here to tempt You.” (Audience laughs) Or did he look like an angel sent from heaven? He looked like an angel of light, didn’t he?—when he came.

And he said, “I’ll give you all this, if You worship me.” That tells you what the devil wants. Now the Bible says that Christ is God the son. I believe that. I believe that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and Jesus is God the Son. All things that were made were made by Him. The Devil wants to be God. And this would be the touchdown for Satan. He said, “You worship me, and then we’ll set everything straight. I want to be God.” And Jesus said, “Never gonna happen.” I’m paraphrasing. He said, “Get thee behind me Satan, for it is written, ‘Thou shall worship the Lord thy God only.’”

Jesus could have punched him between the eyes, (Audience laughs) but He didn’t. You know what He did? (Audience laughs) He fought the Devil with Scripture. And that is—what is our most effective weapon in fighting the Devil? Scripture! Friends, if there is anything you get out of this seminar, I’m hoping that you’ll take your Bible, and develop a regular pattern of reading your Bible.

I read my Bible every morning. I go to bed at night, I listen to Bible tapes. We have Bible stories that we listen to with our kids in the car, and we’re trying to fill ourselves with the word of God. And by the way, there are so many distractions in the world today and especially in our generation, our senses are being bombarded with so many messages, that you need to compensate for all of that flood of information that is pouring into your senses. You really need read the Bible now more than ever. I think that’s one reason God has given us the availability of Scripture more than ever. You can read the Bible online now. It’ll read it to you out loud. There are sites on the internet. There’s really no excuse now for not knowing the Bible. Am I right? We need to take advantage of that, friends. The Bible tells us, “To put on the whole armor of God that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil.” And if we try to stand in our own armor, what’s the dragon’s gonna do to us? Are we any match for the Devil? He’ll knock us out no time at all.

You know there are times when people try to cast out devils. They didn’t know Jesus. They didn’t have the power of Jesus. And this demon-possessed man, book of Acts, he leaped on seven boys that were trying to evict the demon from this man. And the demon said, “I know Paul, and I know Jesus, but I don’t know you.” And he beat ’em, up sent them out wounded and naked. You’ve got to have the Word of God in your heart when you fight the Devil. We’re not wrestling against flesh and blood, amen? The sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. This is our primary defensive weapon against the Devil.

Alright, let’s keep going here. It also says, “For the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword.” Another method to gain into victory? We are to submit ourselves to God, and resist the Devil. Can we resist the Devil in our own strength without first submitting to God? You see, if you invite Jesus in, He is the light, the light expels the darkness. How do you get darkness out of the room? Snow shovel? No. You introduce light, the darkness goes out.

Submit to God, invite Jesus into your heart and He will begin to deal with the Devil, and the temptations you’re battling with, amen? He’ll give you victory. And it doesn’t matter how you’ve been addicted, and what your struggles have been. It might be food, it might be drugs, it could be sex, it could be a codependent relationship. We’re all “sinaholics,” amen? Jesus can deliver you from whatever it is when you invite Jesus and submit yourself to God, resist the Devil. Do we have a part to play in resisting? Yes. There’s people who say, “I’m not gonna do anything.” God’s given you ability He wants you to use with His power to resist the Devil. Devil doesn’t want you to know that. The promise is, “Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” Can you say, amen? (Audience says amen) We’re on the winning team when we accept Jesus.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #12: Question number 12. When and where will the Devil receive his punishment, and what will that punishment be?

The Bible tells us in Matthew chapter 25, “Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels.” Is Satan gonna be dealt with? And again, you can read in Ezekiel 28. God says to the Devil, “I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.” You’re gonna see the destruction of the Devil. Your adversary, be brought low.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #13: Number 13. What is it that forever settles the horrible problem of sin, and will sin ever rise up again the second time?

You read in the Bible in the book of Nahum, one of the other minor prophets in the Bible. He says. “Affliction shall not rise up again the second time.” Why? The only sign of sin in heaven; who knows what that is? When Jesus rose from the dead, did He still have the scars in his hands? Yes, He did. Through eternity, will He still have the scars in His hands? It is gonna be the permanent reminder of what doubting God’s love costs. How much it hurt God when we experimented with sin. When we chose to love ourselves, when the Devil chose to love self more than God. There’s only two--two roads: love and selfishness. You can either love God or love yourself. Those are the two ways everybody moves. And if we choose to love ourselves; it hurts Jesus, we will self-destruct.

And throughout eternity, whenever anyone even contemplates those seeds, the antibiotic for sin is going to be the scars in Jesus’ hands. You know, I understand that during the time of the Bubonic Plague, they didn’t know there was any cure. There is a cure for the bubonic plague. It’s a blood transfusion of somebody who is exposed to the plague, but did not die from it. Now they know that. You know, there’s only one antidote for sin: it’s a transfusion of the only person who’s ever lived in this world who did not sin—that’s Jesus. We need a blood transfusion from the Son of God, amen? That’s the only hope. And again, it tells us there in the book of Zechariah, that prophecy; verse 6 of chapter 13. “One will say unto Him, what are these wounds in Thy hands?” There’ll be people in heaven who maybe didn’t know about Jesus and they are there because of His sacrifice. Nobody is going to heaven without the sacrifice of Jesus. Amen? He’s--He’s the one that makes it all possible.

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #14: Number 14. Who makes the final complete eradication of sin from the universe, a certainty?

The Bible tells us in John chapter 3 verse 8. “For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the Devil.” Jesus is going to destroy the works of the Devil. There’ll be no temptation ever again. Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, Christ, also Himself partook of the same that through death, He might destroy him who has the power of death that is the Devil.” What’s gonna happen to the Devil? “I’ll bring thee to ashes, I will destroy thee.” Satan will be cast into the Lake of fire. You can say, Amen. (Audience says amen) It’s not sadistic. (Laughs)

Doug Batchelor (DB)—Sermon Question #15: Number 15. How does God, the Father, feel about people?

The Lord desperately wants us to be saved. Jesus said, “The Father Himself loveth you.” He wants to see us in the kingdom. Do you think you can trust your life with a God like that? There are only two masters. There’s only two roads. And we all know the Scripture. “For God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life.” Two masters, two directions, two roads. It’s either perish or everlasting life. Can you trust your life to Jesus? (Audience says Amen.)

(Background music starts)

A little boy in Florida ran out to go swimming in the canal by his house. Mother was watching out the kitchen window. And evidently, a migrating alligor--alligator, a large one, had moved in to the canal. The mother saw, as her boy ran off and began to swim towards the middle of this pond that the alligator slipped into the water and was swimming towards her son. She went running out screaming, and said “Alligator, swim back to shore, quickly!” As the boy was just nearing the shore, the alligator latched on to his legs and began to pull him out into the water. And you know, once they get you out there they--they drown their victims. The mother latched on to His hands just as he is slipping away from the shore, and began a tug o’ war with this leviathan. He was pulling one way and she was pulling the other, and she’s screaming, and sometimes he’d knock her off her feet, and start to drag her out, and she’d get her footing again, and pull back up, and the boy is screaming in agony. Alligators try to get into this death roll. Farmer next door heard the shouting. Grabbed his rifle, saw what was happening, and ran out, and shot the alligator.

The boy went out off to the hospital and legs were torn up pretty good, and he had hundredths of stitches. Some reporters from to the local town came to interview the boy when he was well enough, and asked about his legs. And he showed his scars. But then he smiled, he said, “But I want you to look, I’ve also God’s scars on my arms.” And he goes smiling and so proud of his scars in his arms. He says, “Those scars are there because my mother wouldn’t let go of me.”

You know the alligator wants to destroy you, but Jesus doesn’t wanna let go. And friends, you need to do all you can to keep your hand in His hand. But it’s ultimately His grip you need to grasp. Can you trust that friends? There’s only two choices. There’s the love of God and the love of the Devil, would you like to say tonight, “Lord, I wanna trust my life to Jesus.” I hope that’s your prayer. Would you pray with me right now? And you who are watching at home, let’s--let’s make that decision right now.

Father in heaven, we are so thankful for the good news that greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world; that you are able to keep us from falling, for the promise that while we can do nothing without Jesus, we can do all things through Christ. Lord, we would like to submit ourselves to you now. Invite you into our hearts that you would give us the power through the light of Christ, to resist the darkness of the enemy. You’ve promised that He that makes us free, will make us free indeed. Help us to have that abundant life. Be with these people. Bring them back. I know the Devil doesn’t want them to come. He doesn’t want them to hear these things. But I pray that you will overcome in their lives. Bring them, bring their friends, and bring their family. Jesus is coming soon, and we want to be ready. Bless us, Lord. Help us to get to know your Word better that we might be armed to fend off the attacks of the Devil. We thank you for hearing this prayer, we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen. (Audience says Amen)